Needle exchanges are still controversial in some parts of the country, so expect "supervised injection facilities" to be even more so.
Mattie Quinn reports on efforts to bring supervised injection facilities to the United States.
"At these facilities, medical professionals provide addicts with sterile injection equipment so they can safely use illegal drugs they obtained from outside," explains Quinn. "They can also wait out the high and get information about and referrals to treatment."
Vancouver, in Canada, is home to the only such facility in North America, but officials in Seattle and King County recently approved a proposal for the first such facility in the United States. San Francisco is also exploring the possibility of opening a supervised injection facility.
The Vancouver facility "has been credited with preventing nearly 5,000 overdoses since it opened in 2003," but in the United States, risk reduction facilities like needle exchanges are already controversial. Supervised injection would certainly be a tough sell for some politicians.
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